morph

Identity-based, spring-driven, interruptible widget-to-overlay morphs for Flutter, plus a liquid skin that fuses nearby surfaces into one organic shape. No Navigator coupling.

I build this for an app of mine, and the API develops in whatever direction that app needs. There is no pub.dev release; versions are GitHub tags following semver. If you build on it, pin a tag.

Start with the example

A guided tour: seven scenes, each an app mockup in a phone frame answering one question (the compose button that becomes its dialog, the library card that becomes a real page, the dock whose selection is mass), the last one a sandbox playground. Live build: tembeon.github.io/morph/ (wasm - a native release build runs far smoother). API docs live next to it: tembeon.github.io/morph/docs/.

cd example
flutter run -d macos   # or any device

Recipes and applied patterns live there, not in this README.

Two layers, Flutter-style

• package:morph/foundation.dart - the engine: identity, flights, retargeting, the liquid skin. No opinions.
• package:morph/widgets.dart - opinionated widgets built on it: showMorphMenu (a control becomes its own menu), the Tug glass tether, SpringButton, the Material adapter MorphSurface. Interesting uses of the engine, taste included; the knobs move with my app.

The engine never depends on the widget layer. And morph still does not set out to reproduce iOS widgets or Liquid Glass: there is no glass shader here and none is planned - the widget layer is about USING morph well, not about a platform's surface shading.

Install

dependencies:
  morph:
    git:
      url: https://github.com/Tembeon/morph.git
      ref: v0.1.0 # a release tag

One-time wiring - the scope goes above your app's Navigator:

MaterialApp(
  builder: (context, child) => MorphScope(child: child!),
);

Physics comes from motor; its minimal motion vocabulary is re-exported. The opinionated widgets are one import away: package:morph/widgets.dart.

The API is a ladder

Each level is a complete integration on its own; climb only when a screen needs more. Every public member is dartdoc'd - this is just the map.

1. A tag and a call - wrap what you tap in MorphTag, call showMorphDialog or showMorphSheet:

MorphTag(
  id: 'compose',
  shape: const StadiumBorder(),
  surfaceColor: Theme.of(context).colorScheme.primaryContainer,
  child: ComposeButton(),
);

// Anywhere inside the tag's subtree - the source is inferred:
showMorphDialog(context, builder: (context, flight) {
  return ComposeForm(onDone: flight.close);
});

Motion, scrim and shape come with defaults; scrim tap, Esc and the Android back gesture close it. Most screens stop here. (scene The morph)

2. State instead of calls - MorphAnchor(isOpen: ..., onDismiss: ...): the same morph, driven by your state instead of a call.

3. Your own targets - MorphTargetSpec places the destination anywhere: popovers, docked panels, fullscreen. MorphMotion sets the speed profile, MorphTheme the app-wide defaults. (button-to-menu, toolbar merge)

4. Real pages and gestures - showMorphRoute morphs into a real route: back button, predictive back and pop results work, state survives. MorphSharedElement flies content between the two sides, and flight.beginDrag/dragBy/endDrag is a ready drag-to-dismiss. (card to page)

5. Raw parts - MorphController is a standalone retargetable spring, MorphSkin fuses widgets into one liquid mass, and the gesture math is public. The playground's own chrome is built from these. (dock, chips, playground)

At every level the same contract holds: re-showing retargets the running animation instead of restarting it, and closing mid-open just works.

Claude skill

The API reference and the recipes, distilled for coding agents, ship as the use-morph skill in my tem_tools plugin marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add Tembeon/tem_tools
/plugin install morph@tem-tools

License

MIT